Yes, I Stood in the Fire…

There I was in Twilight Highlands, minding my own business getting my daily stomping from the Dragonmaw when the sky turns red and whoosh! I’m dead.

Stood in the Fire

Never saw Deathwing, never saw it coming – but I got the Achievement!

Notice there is no “Resurrect”? Well, that’s because those Dragonmaw had already killed me and when Deathwing arrived I was sitting in a “safe” place getting my health and mana back.

On the bright side, I turned in my Wildhammer quests and it was enough to reach Exalted.

Wildhammer Clan

No more beer runs, no more Dragonmaw!

…and I stood in the Purple Stuff

I was lucky enough to tag along with a guild run of normal Grim Batol so other than the holiday boss, this was my first “official” run as healer since Cataclysm was released.

I had never been there before (obviously) so every boss mechanic and strategy was clearly explained.

It was horrible.

Not the instance, not the other players – I was horrible.

First couple of pulls the tank died. Fortunately everyone else was on top of their game so there wasn’t a wipe, but wow, I couldn’t heal my way out of a paper bag.

Nothing I had seemed fast enough or a big enough heal to avoid disaster. I had changed my Disc spec to a recommended “non-smite” spec as I correctly anticipated I wouldn’t be in a situation that allowed me to smite because no healing was required.

The rest of the run went okay except at the last boss when I ran the wrong way and got killed by the purple stuff.

The boss went down despite my stupidity but while I was eating dirt I thought it might be best to just hide in a hole and “retire” my Disc Priest until the next expansion….

If it hadn’t been a guild run I would have been kicked, and rightly so.

Maybe healing gets better with gear, or the spec is just attuned for gear at the heroic or raid levels but gee whiz – what do I do in the meantime?

Apparently Grim Batol only drops hunter gear (ha! ha!) so no upgrades for me, but I did get a Bouquet of Red Roses and the My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose Achievement.

Small consolation for being a total healing failure.

Fishing Surprise

I logged on my Shaman (who had finally reached level 80) and decided to pick up the Stormwind daily fishing and cooking quests before heading out to Mount Hyjal.

Opened my Bag of Fishing Disappointments and there was the Jeweled Fishing Pole!

Jeweled Fishing Pole

I have been after one of these poles forever on my Priest and Hunter, so I was thrilled to actually get one on my Shaman.

Jeweled Fishing Pole

It might not have as many “stats” as the Kalu’ak fishing pole, but it makes fishing a lot more fun!

8 comments

Hang in there! Healing really does get better with gear and with practice. Try gearing up with the rep vendor stuff and see if it get easier for you. You should have a higher average item level than the minimum required. Having a guild to be patient with you (which is sounds like you do) will help as you practice your rotation. Don’t be afraid or forget to blow your cooldowns (Divine Hymn) if things look bad. Good luck!

And yeah, we do have a pretty awesome guild when it comes to being patient and giving people a chance to learn. On two of the heroics I ran this weekend, with four guildies and a pug tank, the tanks actually thanked us for hanging in there with them and giving them a chance. And they weren’t bad tanks, either. I don’t understand groups that kick a tank (or healer) after one wipe.

No way, I actually think you should talk even more. Interesting chatter in the guild channel is part of what makes being in a guild so great. And yes, I am saying that tea made for an interesting topic! 😛

Elgar uses that fishing pole all the time. I think the bonus fishing from that one and the Kalu’ak is the same. I think it looks way fancier anyways. 😛 I love how lots of the fishing poles have curves in them too…I fish all the time and I have never seen a curved fishing pole, unless you have something on the other end.

I think there was a post on the forums about how the Jeweled/Bone fishing pole stats had been nerfed because they can be dropped for lower levels, but I hadn’t noticed the bonus fishing – good to know that hadn’t been nerfed!